1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a biocompatible article for the treatment of water and production of energy such as hydrogen or hydrocarbons.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many types of water treatment systems, such as filtration and cleaning systems for treatment of water in, for example, swimming pools and aquariums. Many of these systems filter the water to remove suspended matter and reduce the cloudy appearance of the water. Preventing bacterial growth in water and removing contaminants from water are significant industrial, as well as household, problems. For example, industrial effluent should be cleaned to remove toxic compounds as well as to remove bacteria before it is dumped into lakes and rivers. Containers of water such as swimming pools, hot tubs, aquariums and the like must be kept clean to prevent the water from becoming cloudy and/or the container walls from becoming slimy. The water may be treated by active means such as a filter to remove particles and bacteria, and it may also be treated by passive means whereby a biocide is placed in a container and floated in the water.
It is common to use chemical means to keep the water clean and reduce growth of bacteria and other microorganisms. Ultraviolet light, chlorination, bromination, treatment with ions of copper and silver as well as treatment with ozone can be used to treat and/or disinfect water. These are typical biocides, that is, substances or energies that destroy living organisms. Of course care must be taken with all these methods because of the possible toxicity or damage to the user. Chemicals require careful handling to avoid environmental contamination as well as contact with the user.
In addition, global warming has been a main factor that causes abnormal weather worldwide and breaks the global ecosystem, so that prevention of global warming is a worldwide issue that should be addressed urgently. It has turned out that global warming is caused mainly by a large consumption of fossil fuel including oil and coal and the resulting warming gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2). Accordingly, there is a strong demand for research in new technologies for suppressing the release of global warming gases, creation of energy sources, such as hydrogen, utilizing biofunctions, and study of immobilization and degradation of global warming gases.
Among these, bio energy or fuel energy is advantageous in that it can be converted to electrical energy with high efficiency in the form of a fuel cell, the amount of the generated heat is 3 or 4 times that generated by oil, only water is generated after combustion so that there is no fear of environmental pollution, and that water, which is the raw material for hydrogen energy, is abundant.
CN1789414 A discloses a method for different biomass raw materials to ferment and produce hydrogen using a continuous, highly effective and stable microbial source. CN1789414 A further discloses that the method employs a polyvinyl alcohol glue solution, bacterial flora liquid (dehydrogenase enzymatic activity i¦50 U/mL) comprising the single bacterial flora liquid and miscegenation bacterial flora liquid, 8-16% alta-mud (adsorbing carrier), and an auxiliary agent: 10-20% CaCO3, 0.1-0.2% sulfo-aminolactic acid or cysteine, sulphate cation M(M=Fe2+, Ni2+, Fe3+, Mg2+, K+, Mn2+), ammonium salt anion N(N=[Mo7O24]6−, [C2O4]2−, [C6H5O7]3−, SO42−), and 1% Na2S. The method disclosed in CN1789414 A uses the sugar S(S=xylo-pfan, lactose, grape-sugar, cane sugar, amylogen, potato) and fresh potato hydrolysate as raw material to continuously ferment and produce hydrogen.
Accordingly, there is a continued need for improved systems that can treat water and produce energy such as hydrogen in a simple, cost efficient manner.